TRI-CITIES, TN/VA (WJHL) – “You have to do the work to get the money,” Angie Sheek says. “But there are no fees, nobody’s doing it for you. You’re doing it for yourself.”

A little work could be worth some money! Angie Sheek found that out by searching through a list of websites. Virtual treasure chests that are full of unclaimed money and items.

“You just put in your name, first name optional, put in a letter, put in your last name, and comes up all of the people with that matching identification,” she says.

After Sheek entered her information, she got a hit.

“When I logged in, it said “under $100″, so I wasn’t sure how much it was going to be until I actually got it. But, it was $80,” she said. “That’s a good amount of money! Absolutely! And, it was mine, and I didn’t have it!”

But now she does. After filling out a form and mailing it in, Sheek received her money.

She said, “I used it to pay bills. Because, it was found money! Money that had been missing, and I used it to pay bills.”

Not every site is on the up-and-up, though. So, Sheek did her research to make sure she wasn’t being charged for getting her money back.

“I read up on to make sure I wasn’t going to a spam website,” She said. “But, it was through the government site, and through the state site, and there were absolutely no fees. They hold your money, they don’t charge you anything for it, and they give it all to you.”

They don’t charge you, but you have to do the legwork.

“Just go and look and see if your name is there! If your name is there, and it’s matched a city where you’ve lived or you might have had an account, check into it. It doesn’t hurt for them to send you the form to fill out to make sure it’s you,” she says.

April Harmon wanted to hunt for unclaimed cash, so we sat her at a computer and gave her websites to search.

“It would be amazing to find extra money to pay bills or something for the kids. It would be awesome,” Harmon says.

As Harmon is going through the websites, she comments, “It’s really easy. You just type in your name, your city and state, and it pulls up names. And, you just scroll to find your name.”

After searching her name, as well as her husband and family members, Harmon’s quest didn’t turn up gold.

“It would have been nice to have a little bit left out there somewhere to pick up. But, no such luck yet,” she says.

But Harmon says she’s still lucky. She knows she has all of the money she’s owed.

“It’s not floating around out there somewhere.”WHERE TO FIND UNCLAIMED CASH:

www.unclaimed.org/ – Here, you can search by state. Remember to search every state in which you lived. *Note: make sure you are on the .ORG website. The .COM site takes you to a pay site. You should never have to pay a fee or a finder to help you find your money.

www.missingmoney.com – Another great site where you can search several states at once. Not all states participate in this search, however.

www.irs.gov/Refunds – The IRS has a “where’s My Refund” feature on its website. You can do a search for your check by entering your social security number and the amount you’re owed.

www.mib.com/lost_life_insurance.html – This is the only site we’re listing where you have to pay to search. If you think you are the beneficiary of a lost insurance policy, this company can help. It’s $75 to search.

www2.fdic.gov/funds/index.asp – If your back went under, chances are your money was insured by the federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). If it was, you can get your money!